In Which Zubon Lends Cryptic A Hand

[City of Heroes] A while back, I discussed Known Issues pages. Since City of Heroes/Villains has one, I thought I would give them a hand. Because we care. You see, there is a vast array of bugs missing from the Known Issues list, so I assume that Cryptic simply has not noticed them. Or maybe they are ignoring them or lying about whether the game has bugs, but I’ll assume ignore rather than malice.

I would first note that the Known Issues list only covers new bugs introduced in Issue 8, rather than long-standing problems like hostages who do not follow rescuers/kidnappers, base raids still not existing despite being an advertised feature for over a year, or any balance issues. Let us set those aside and just think about what has been broken recently.

The other notable is that the Known Issues list currently believes that there have been no changes to the test server since Issue 8 went live. Poor Known Issues list, let me refer you to the various threads your developers have started about the winter event, along with several pages of balance changes. You know how several changes always get left off the patch notes? Whoever is in charge of fixing that problem might want to get the e-mail address for whoever is in charge of the Known Issues page. Missing something like an entire event makes it look like you are not bothering to update your players.

Or is the guideline that players must read the forums everyday to learn what zone, mission, or task force was broken by the latest patch? I know I like seeing the same questions every half-hour on my global channels as someone else stumbles on things. I wonder what people do who are not part of the global channel in-crowd. Anyway, back to topic, new bugs.

All the decorative bits in missions are invisible. *poof* They are still there, so your character can get stuck on invisible boxes, sandbags, cars, etc. You just cannot see them, so you get all the obstruction with none of the entertainment. Wondering why your character’s ranged attacks are blocked across an empty room? Surprise, there is a circus going on, you just can’t see it! (That is not sarcasm. The Carnival of Shadows actually has circus decorations in some missions.) Again, the guys on the boards have noticed, but word has not made its way to the list that players are supposed to be able to rely on. Also, they are asking for feedback and specifics. I can help there: all the decorations, every mission, every computer configuration.

Maybe I should not mention this, since it is a repeat bug from several issues back. The Firebase Zulu molepoint interior has gone invisible again, exactly the same way, as have the sandbags leading to the zone. You may recall this having been an issue for, what, most of a year? So we may get those invisible walls in missions fixed on a similar timeline.

This assumes that you can find the mission. The door locations on some have broken. This is not entirely new, since it has happened occasionally, but apparently it is consistent for some task forces and common on the new police band missions. For example, the map might direct you to the wrong zone, or be on the wrong door so you could just run down the street clicking every door in that part of the city and hoping for the best.

You will also need to survive getting to the mission. The Peregrine Island police band missions are putting some missions in caves on monster island. That is the island with a few dozen Giant Monster class enemies, the sort that one- or two-shot most characters and spawn in groups. I know, you can’t be one-shot anymore, but you can take 99% of your hit points and then another tick from a DoT. This combines nicely with a pre-existing bug that occasionally drops your toggles upon zoning. Exit your mission, your stealth is suddenly gone, and a giant rock flies out of the sky before you finish loading in. At least the hospital is back on the mainland.

Who knew the bank was all the way out there? Police band missions are giving random doors, so what you click may not be related to what the mission is about. Hence, the cave that leads to the bank. Hence, the portal that leads to the sewers.

The Known Issues list has been informed that the Numina Task Force is broken because the redesigned zone is not recognized for the “go defeat x in every zone of the game” mission, as are base teleporters. The Known Issues list has not been informed that the map re-does its “fog of war” every time you zone. Don’t bother clearing the black guck off your map, because it will be back soon. I have not tested if others zones are still doing that, as some have been for a year (notably, PvP zones for heroes’ maps; they work fine for villains).

Safeguard missions work surprisingly well, far better than I expect of new content. The most significant issue is that some enemies disappear upon being hit. Perhaps they are being teleported to the edge of the map? This is convenient for getting past them, but rather annoying when I need to clear all of them to rescue a hostage. The Paragon Police Department officers just stand there cheering me on, waiting for the missing last enemy to fall. Since there is a badge for rescuing these guys, I would like to be able to rescue them.

The only other new one I have is that the new issue deleted pet commands in hotkey bars. Luckily, most of my characters were using keyboard binds for that, but it is an annoyance for the others. Players also seem to be crashing a lot more often, but I cannot isolate anything on that yet.

I once labeled the Rogue Isles the City of Annoying Bugs. Many of those have been fixed, so now the heroes get a turn. Why am I posting all this here? Because you cannot post to the forums after you cancel. Maybe things will be fixed in a month or two. It’s a shame, since I was having a great time with City of Villains before the patch.

: Zubon

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2 thoughts on “In Which Zubon Lends Cryptic A Hand”

Update: players are crashing A LOT more often. I ran the first strike force tonight, six missions long. I crashed three times. With a full team of eight, we usually had 5-6 members as people were continuously crashing, verifying all files (required after crash), and logging back in. We had one member who did not crash during the strike force. We had three who gave it up, including one who crashed at least 6 times trying to zone into the final mission.